Undercurrent

Photo credit: Stefano Altamura

Undercurrent is a teaching and performance entity invested in rigorous and specific technique. Through curated research labs, national creative partnerships, international intensives, immersive performance pop-ups, and weekly community classes, we engage in nuanced floorwork research practiced with seamless continuity and an eye for the thrill of kinesthesia. We believe that communal care precedes the possibility of risk, and that attunement to collectivism is a vital and precious practice.

Hilary Grumman co-founded Undercurrent in 2017 and has since cultivated the company’s development. As Artistic Co-Directors under the umbrella of Undercurrent, Hilary and Alethea Alexander (Undercurrent Artistic Co-Director, Ballet Rituals Co-Founder and independent artist) have been making work together since 2023. Their collaborative works have been supported by On the Boards, Actualize, Pike Street Plaza, University of Washington, Cornish College, CO–, Velocity Dance Center, westFEST, 4Culture, Abbey Arts, Walk Don’t Run, Mosswood Hollow Retreat Center, Kitbash Studio, Alia Swersky, Glenn Kawasaki, and Douglas Pearce.

@danceundercurrent | danceundercurrent.com

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Surface Tension, presented at NWNW 2026, is a high-velocity kinesthetic rollercoaster for seven dancers, two lights, and a DJ. It is a meditation on the essential relationship between risk-taking and community care. In darkness, held close through directed lighting and tension between what is seen and unseen, movement slices and slips through restricted space, underpinned by an original soundscore from local artist Marco Gill.